NATO protesters gather for Chicago rally

Protesters, some affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, demonstrate in downtown Chicago on the eve of the NATO summit on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Sixty heads of state, 2,500 journalists and thousands of protesters have converged on Chicago for the two-day meeting. / Spencer Platt/Getty Images

(AP) CHICAGO - Protesters gathering in Chicago for the NATO summit were gearing up for their largest demonstration Sunday, when thousands are expected to march from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders will meet.

Several hundred demonstrators wound through the city's streets for hours Saturday, testing police who used bicycles to barricade off streets and horseback officers to coax them in different directions. Increasingly tense clashes between protesters and police resulted in 18 arrests, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.

Most of Saturday's demonstrations remained relatively small and peaceful, including one march to the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff. But a later march stretched for hours as protesters zigzagged back and forth through downtown, some decrying terrorism-related charges leveled against three young men earlier in the day.

Organizers pledged a larger crowd when protesters from the Occupy movement will join forces with an anti-war coalition to mark the opening day of the summit later Sunday.

"We want the world to focus on NATO — they're not important and have no mandate anymore," said Micah Philbrook, an Occupy Chicago spokesman, who criticized the large police presence Saturday. "They're pushing us around and not letting anyone get out of the protest even if they want. They're very aggressive."

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Demonstrators confront police as they march through the downtown streets on May 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.

/ Scott Olson/Getty Images

McCarthy said police would be ready with quick but targeted arrests of any demonstrators who turn violent Sunday.

"If anything else happens, the plan is to go in and get the people who create the violent acts, take them out of the crowd and arrest them," warned McCarthy, at the scene of protests after dark. "We're not going to charge the crowd wholesale — that's the bottom line."

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[TimeToEvolve]

The beauty is that is we all unite together we do not have to put up with our current corrupt, inequitable system designed for and run by the Top 1%.

The Top 1% depend on our money, labor and compliance for their system to run. Therefore we have the power to shut it down and we should. We should have a system where the wealth that the workers create is used for their benefit (health care, good education, good jobs, good healthy food and water and air).

We have a few very greedy and very evil people that want us all to serve them. They have implemented a race-to-the bottom Wal Mart economy that benefit them at the expense of the rest of us. We cannot even use the justice system to prosecute them for massive fraud which is illegal because they also control the courts now. But we can get them and get them good. Whenever we want but we have to unite.

[smittyc]

You would think the protesters would have something better to do with their time.

[TimeToEvolve]

You mean other than taking back America from the corporate fascists? Or maybe smashing the imperialists in the boardrooms who are plotting to finish conquering the world to suck all the wealth out for themselves?

[crypticvalentin]

Chicago
https://vimeo.com/42510991

[RichZubaty]

Yahoo! Stop the wars. Feed the poor, or eat the rich. The freeloaders in this society are the 1%.

[truthskr17]

I feel sorry for the normal law abiding citizens in Chicago. Since the 2nd Amendment does not apply in Cook County, IL they are unable to defend themselves. If the police are overwhelmed then they are just out of luck. WAKE UP America. Our Constitutional Republic is in grave peril--the Democratic party has been infiltrated with Marxist, Socialist leaders. We need to take back the Democratic party and restore it to the party of Truman and JFK.

[Lucky12345678]

So let's stop calling it the "War on Women, Rich, Bankers, Oil, so on..." and call it what it is, the War on Freeloaders. Since this is the age of the acronym we could call it WOF, but that is boring an unimaginative, so let's add an "L" to it and call it WOLF. It could stand for War On Lazy Freeloaders, or if you don't like Lazy you can substitute any "L" word of your choosing. Your choice, the point is the WOLF will devour you.